Why Zero Dark Thirty is the movie of the year

Zero Dark Thirty

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Zero Dark Thirty: This brilliant new film from acclaim director Katherine Bigelow does a lot right and very little wrong. It tells the story of the 10 year man hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The film opens up with a dark screen as we hear some of the terrifying calls from people in the world trade center on that horrific day back in September 2001. Over the next 2 and half hours we follow an accurate portrayal of how the CIA finally found and killed public enemy # 1. Jessica Chastain plays Maya a young woman who we find out was recruited out of high school by the CIA – she devotes all her time trying to find Bin Laden. The movie does not hide the fact that the US tortured people to get information. We see a man get water boarded in the first 20 minutes. Information is slowly revealed which leads the CIA to their next lead which hopefully directs them to another lead and so forth. Although we know how it ends, the film plays out like a tense thriller, we realize how much went into this man hunt. By the Time Seal Team 6 deploys for the compound in Pakistan I was on the edge of my seat – the last 30 minutes is probably the best 30 minutes of film I’ve seen all year. I appreciated that the movie did not tell you how to feel. Like a great piece of art it presents itself and lets the viewer soak it in and come to their own conclusion. That applies to the torture issue and the manhunt itself. Chastain is powerful in here, I loved how her character develops as the movie goes on – at first she seems out of place, but as the years go on she is stern and unyielding. The final scene of the movie, involving Jessica Chastain is perfect. This is a must see movie.